The New York Times | There is fear among some Venezuelan families for Trump’s deportations: «Now it is in an abyss and who will rescue it»

Mirelis Casique’s son, 24, spoke with her for the last time on Saturday morning from a detention center in Laredo, Texas. He told him that they were going to expel him with a group of Venezuelans, but that he did not know where they were heading.

By The New York Times

Shortly after, his name disappeared from the website of the American immigration authorities. Since then, Casique hasn’t heard from him again.

«Now he is in an abyss and who is going to rescue it,» he said Sunday in an interview from his home in Venezuela.

The deportation of 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador this weekend has planted panic among families, who fear that their relatives are among those delivered by Donald Trump’s government to Salvadoran authorities, apparently without due process.

The men were described by the White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, as «terrorists» belonging to the band of Aragua. He described them as «atrocious monsters» that they had recently been arrested, «saving countless US lives.» But several relatives of men who believe they belong to the group claim that their loved ones have no links with the band.

On Sunday, the Government of El Salvador spread images of the handcuffed men being taken to a megaprision of bad reputation during the night, with the newly shaved heads.

Like other Venezuelan families, Casique has no evidence that their son, Francisco Javier García Casique, is part of the group that was transferred to El Salvador on Saturday as part of an agreement between President Nayib Bukele and the Trump government. The Salvadoran president has offered to retain Venezuelan migrants at the expense of the US government.

However, Casique said that not only was the name of his son of the website of the United States immigration and customs control website disappeared, but also recognized him in one of the photos of the newly arrived deportees who have disseminated the Government of El Salvador. When he saw him in the photograph, he said, he felt «broken before injustice» of what was happening.

None of the governments have made public the names of the Venezuelan deportees, and a spokeswoman for the Salvadoran government did not respond to a request to confirm that Casique’s son was part of the group. The United States National Security Department, which supervises the Customs Immigration and Control Service, also did not respond to a request to confirm whether Garcia had been deported to El Salvador.

Casique said he had identified Garcia for the tattoos of one of his arms, as well as for his constitution and complexion, although his face was not seen. The photo shows a group of men with shirts and white shorts and shaved head, with the arms fastened to the back.

In recent years, Venezuelans have emigrated to the United States in record figures, as their country plunged into the crisis under the government of Nicolás Maduro. Since Maduro, unlike most other leaders in the region, has not accepted regular deportation flights from the United States, the Trump government has been looking for other ways to deport Venezuelans.

On Sunday, the Venezuela government strongly denounced the transfer of migrants to El Salvador, affirming in a statement that the United States had used an obsolete law – the law of foreign enemies of 1798 – to carry out an illegal operation that violated US and international laws.

Since the beginning of his presidential campaign, Trump has focused on the Aragua train and his presence in the United States. When he deported a large group of Venezuelans last month to Guantanamo, an American military base in Cuba, Trump also said that the deportees belonged to the band, a statement that some of their relatives have denied.

Neither the United States nor the Salvadoran government have offered evidence that migrants are related to the Aragua Train, a band that originated in the Venezuelan prisons but whose reach is now extended throughout Latin America. Trump, whose government was designated by a terrorist group, has focused on incidents that, he said, demonstrates the presence of Aragua train in the United States.

Bukele said that the deportees would be held for at least one year and forced to carry out work and attend workshops in the framework of a program called «Zero Leisure.»

Casique said his son was not affiliated with any band and had entered the United States to request asylum at the end of 2023, after several years working in Peru to keep his family in his country. During his trip to the north, he was injured in Mexico when he fell from a train, he said.

Garcia, who had given himself to the authorities on the American border, was arrested in a routine appearance before immigration officials last year, after they observed their tattoos, Casique said.

The tattoos, which according to her include a crown with the word «peace» and the names of her mother, grandmother and sisters, led the authorities to put Garcia under investigation and label him as an alleged member of the Aragua train, according to Casique.

Garcia remained in a Dallas detention center for two months, said his mother, but a judge finally decided that he was not a danger and allowed him to be released whenever he carried an electronic device to follow his movements.

The New York Times could not independently verify why he had been retained and released.

After Trump’s possession this year, Garcia began to worry, but Casique remembered his son to have told his son that he had nothing to fear: the government said he would first prosecute criminals.

But on February 6, the authorities reached Garcia’s door and took him detained.

«I told him to follow the norms of the country, that he was not a criminal and they were going to deport him,» said Casique. «But I was very innocent, I thought the laws were going to protect him.»